Sinuous conveyer



Feb. 11, 1930. v. A. FOX

SINUOUS GONVEYER' Filed June 22, 1928 Patented Feb. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 'VERNIE A. FOX, or imTRoIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR To YOUNG BROTHERS COMPANY,

or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION or MICHIGAN SINUOUS CONVEYER Application filed June 22,

The present invention pertains to a novel conveyer designed for use in ovens for drying metal plates that have been japanned, enameled, painted or similarly treated.

In ovens of this character it is customary to mount the work on a conveyer which runs through the oven at such a rate that the material is dried when discharged. The object of the present invention is to provide a conveyer which is unusually long with reference to the size of the oven and therefore enables a proportionally long path for the work in a given size of oven. The result of such a construction is that the oven and space occupied thereby may be considerably smaller than would otherwise be required.

The object of the invention is attained by building the conveyer in a sinuous form and in two'levels, each level merging into the other in order to make the conveyer endless.

The invention is fully disclosed by way of example in the following description and in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure lis a longitudinal vertical section of the device at the inner side of one of the longitudinal walls, on the line 1--1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Figure 1; and I i Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Reference to these views will now be made by use of like characters which are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout.

The apparatus may be conceived as constructed around a series'of sprocket wheels which drive an endless conveyor in asinuous path and through two levels. At one end is built a platform 1 having a short sub-track 2 accommodating a carriage'3. The carriage has rollers 4 which ride on the track 2 as clearly shown in Figure 3. The carriage is further provided with a bearing 5 in which is journalled a vertical stub shaft 6 having a sprocket wheel'7 at its lower end. A spring 8 connects the bearing 5 to a fixed point on the platform for a purpose which will presently appear. i

Adjacent the platform is built an inclined housing 9 having its lower end near the plat- 1928. Serial No. 287,526.

form and its upper end merging into an elevated oven section 10 which has its ends supported on legs 11. The housings 9 and 10 .are in line with the stub shaft 6; in other words, the housings or oven sections have a common longitudinal axis which, when prolonged, passes through the shaft 6. p In the end of the section 10 more remote from the shaft 6 is j ournalled a vertical shaft 12 carry ing a sprocket wheel 13 at its upper end.

In the plane of the rear wall of the inclined housing 9 is built a partition or bafile 14 which divides the housing 10 longitudinally and lies entirely in the upper level of this housing. This member extends substantially from the wheel 13 to the wheel 7, and the end near the wheel 7 is also disposed in a level above the platform 1 asclearly shown in Figure 2. At the same end is built a short forward. end wall 15 lying in a vertical plane perpendicular to that of the baflie 14. Another wall 16 lying parallel to the baflle 14 has one end in engagement with the free edge of the wall 15 and extends rearwardly in the direction of the shaft 12 nearly as far as the highest point of the inclined housing 9. From the end of the wall 16 is built another inclined housing 17 sloping downwardly therefrom and terminating at a considerable distance from the shaft 12. It will be seen that the walls 14, 15 and 16 form a housing which somewhat overlaps the housing 10; so that the inner wall 18 of the latter, extended along the plane of the inner wall of the housing 17 forms a baffle or partition between the walls 14 and 16. The wall 18 is extended to a line 19 spaced somewhat from the wall 15. V

Two sprocket wheels 7 and 13 at a low and high level respectively have already been described. The forward end of the housing constituted by the walls 14, 15 and 16 supports a vertical shaft 20 between the wall 15 and the end 19 of the wall 18. On the upper end of this shaft is keyed a sprocket wheel 21 in the same level as the wheel 13 but offset therefrom in the transverse direction of the apparatus. At a short distance from the lower end of the inclined housing 17 is a structure 22 on the lower level for supporting a Vertical shaft 23 which carries a sprocket wheel 24 on the level of the wheel 7. This structure is disposed somewhat inwardly of the wheel 13.

A sinuous and endless track comprised of a pair of narrowly spaced angle members 25 is built around the several sprocket Wheels. Commencing at the platform 1 at an outer tangent to the wheel 7, the track takes the following course:

A short horizontal section 26 extends from the wheel to the lower open end of the inclined housing 9 and follows along the roof of the housing as indicated by the numeral 27. Coming out of the upper end of the housing, is an upper lap 28 passed around the wheel 13 and continued in a parallel direction as at 29 to the remaining upper wheel 21. The track turns around the axis of the wheel and forms still another upper horizontal portion 30 parallel to the laps 28 and 29 and leading into -the upper end of the housing 17 through which it is carried downwardly at 31 to a short lower lap 32 extending to the wheel 24. After passing around the axis of the wheel, the track forms a lower lap 33 parallel to and directly beneath the lap 29. The lap 33 is extended around the axis of the wheel 7 and joins the first mentioned lower lap 26 at the hypothetical starting point.

The track members 25 support throughout their entire extent slightly spaced pairs of rollers 34 carried by the ends of the heads 35 of T-members, whose stems 36 support a chain 37 following the course of the track and lying slightly therebeneath. To the endless chain are fixed downwardly projecting fingers 38, and to these fingers are pivotally connected racks or baskets 39 for carrying the metallic sheets which are to be dried in the oven.

The upper housing 10 contains a series of heating elements 40 preferably in the rear end thereof. .Circulation of hot air is established by a fan 41 connected by a pipe 42 to an exhaust port 43 in the base of the inclined section 9. The work is loaded onto the baskets 39 at the platform 1, and is moved along the course of the chain which may be driven by a pinion or gear 44 on the shaft 23. The bafiles 14 and 18 prevent the air drawn in through the open end of the section 17 from taking a straight line path to the port 13 without passing the heating elements 40. When the work reaches the platform 1 after having travelled the course of the conveyer, it is unloaded.

At the inclined portions 9 and 17, guards 45 are supported over and in contact with the expansion and contraction thereof within the oven.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be understood that various alterations in the details of construction may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as indicated by the appended claims.

What I claim is 1-- 1. A conveyer comprising an S-shaped upper way having a central portion and end portions, an S-shaped lower way having a central portion directly below the first named central portion and having end portions opposed to the first named end portions, and inclined portions connecting said opposed end portions.

2. An oven comprising two elevated housing sections and in the same level, said housings lying parallel to each other and slightly overlapping each other, so that the inner longitudinal wall of each housing forms a partition running longitudinally through the other housing, a sprocket wheel in the outer end of each housing, a pair of sprocket wheels mounted exteriorly of said. housings, at a lower level than the first named wheels and adjacent thereto, and an endless conveyer trained sinuously over said low and hlgh wheels in alternation.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

VERNIE A. FOX.

rollers 34 to prevent the inclined sections of the conveyer from being lifted OK the track. The spring 8 tends to pull the carriage 3 outwardly from the conveyer housing and thereby maintains the conveyer chain taut at all times in response to changes in length due to 

